60s icon who carved her own path
60s icon who carved her own path
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By her own admission, Marianne Faithfull, who has died aged 78, “didn’t do conventional”.
She was the convent-educated teenager who abandoned school after meeting the Rolling Stones.
A delicate-featured picture of innocence, she inhaled the highs of chart success, before falling victim to alcohol and hard drugs.
After splitting up with Mick Jagger, Faithfull spent years living as a heroin addict on the streets of Soho.
Given the chance to restart her singing career, she went on to make more than 20 albums.
Her whisky-soaked voice, turned cracked and dusky, conveyed the inner torments of her painful life-experiences.
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Marianne Faithfull was still at school when she was spotted by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull was born in Hampstead on 29 December 1946.
Her mother was Baroness Eva Sacher-Masoch, a Hungarian, half-Jewish former ballet dancer who had fled the Nazis in World War II.
Her father was Major Glyn Faithfull, an eccentric British MI6 agent turned professor of Italian literature.
The stage was set for an unusual childhood.
Marianne spent her early years at Braziers Park, an upmarket commune founded by her father in an Oxfordshire country house.
In her autobiography, she described it as a “mixture of high utopian thoughts and ****** sex”.
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Marianne Faithfull photographed at the age of 19 in 1965
After divorcing, Lady Sacher-Masoch spirited her six-year-old daughter to a terraced house in Reading, discouraging further contact with Major Faithfull.
According to Marianne, she was raised like “one of her mother’s cats”.
She had regular bouts of tuberculosis and was sent to St Joseph’s Roman Catholic boarding school, despite her father’s complaints that the nuns would “give her a problem with sex for the rest of her life”.
While still at school, Marianne began singing folk songs a ********* in Reading coffee-houses – and, before long, her exquisite looks and obvious talent saw her sucked into the vortex of Swinging 60s London.
In 1964, she attended a Rolling Stones launch party, on the arm of British artist John Dunbar, and was spotted by the flamboyant record producer Andrew Loog Oldham.
Famously, he described her as an “angel” with impressive vital statistics.
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Marianne Faithfull left her husband to live with Mick Jagger
Oldham was the Rolling Stones’ manager and felt he could package his new discovery as a pop star.
She would, he thought, be a useful vehicle for songs that weren’t quite a fit for his more important act.
The Rolling Stones were a rhythm and blues band. When singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards wrote a gentle ballad, When Tears Go By, they dismissed it as a “piece of tripe”.
So Oldham gave it to Marianne Faithfull.
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Marianne Faithfull as a doomed, leather-clad beauty in The Girl on a Motorcycle in 1968
The song had not been written for her but, she said, “fitted me so perfectly it might as well had been”.
The melancholy classic, sung in her detached, wintry voice, reached the *** Top 10.
The Stones were so disappointed they had missed a hit, they recorded their own version a year later.
Faithfull followed up with a series of singles, including Summer Nights, This Little Bird and – her highest chart success – Come and Stay with Me.
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Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull leave court having been arrested for possession of cannabis in 1969
She caught Bob Dylan’s eye when he came to town.
Inspired by her doe-eyed looks, the American singer-songwriter wrote her a poem – but tore it up when she turned him down.
In 1965, she married John Dunbar and gave birth to their son. Soon afterwards, she left the family home and moved in with Mick Jagger.
He was not Faithfull’s first Rolling Stone. “I slept with three of them,” she later admitted, “and then I decided the lead singer was the best bet.”
Her influence on the band was significant.
Let’s Spend the Night Together, You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Wild Horses were all songs said to have been written about her.
And Sympathy for the ****** was inspired by The Master and Margarita, a Russian novel Faithfull introduced to Jagger.
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Marianne Faithfull lost custody of her son, Nicholas
As one of the faces of the 1960s, Faithfull carved out a side-career as an actor.
She appeared at London’s Royal Court in an adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, alongside Glenda Jackson.
She became the first person ever to utter the F-word in a mainstream film, I’ll Never Forget What’sisname, in 1967.
A year later, she starred opposite Alain Delon, as a doomed, leather-clad beauty in The Girl on a Motorcycle.
Her character’s psychedelic and erotic fantasies saw the film win the first ever X-rating in the United States.
Of course, there were a lot of drugs.
During a police raid on Keith Richard’s house in Sussex, Faithfull was discovered naked, draped in a fur rug – which she took indecent pleasure in occasionally letting slip.
Allegations involving a Mars bar, she insisted, were entirely made up. But the drugs bust took a toll on her reputation. “It destroyed me,” she later said.
“To be a male drug addict and to act like that is always enhancing and glamorising, she explained.
“A woman in that situation becomes a ***** and a bad mother.”
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Marianne Faithfull at the height of her alcohol and drug addiction in 1974
Faithfull co-wrote Sister Morphine with Jagger and Richards and released the song in 1969.
The lyrics – the authorship of which were later the subject of a legal dispute with the band – are a terrifying insight into the effect of heroin and ******** addiction.
“The scream of the ambulance is sounding in my ears. Tell me, Sister Morphine, how long have I been lying here?”
The relationship with Jagger – whom she accused of having a misogynistic streak – fell apart at turn of the decade.
At the same time, Faithfull lost custody of her son and her life began to spiral out of control.
A suicide attempt left her in a coma, and she ended up an alcoholic, anorexic heroin addict living in a bomb-damaged building in London’s Soho.
She looked back on these years in a BBC interview in 2002, describing her addiction as a kind of brutal therapy.
“I was in agony and I healed myself as best I could,” she said. “One of the ways was with drugs, because they are painkillers.
“It was all too much for me,” she explained. “I really didn’t like my gilded cage.”
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Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull photographed in 1969
Occasional attempts to emerge from her squat in Chelsea failed.
Her voice – affected by drug abuse and laryngitis – had become permanently rough and lower in pitch.
But, a decade after her split with Jagger, Faithfull made Broken English – her most critically acclaimed album.
Gone was the innocence of the 1960s – and in its place, a post-punk performer of depth and world-weary experience.
The album’s final track, Why’d Ya Do It?”, is the rasping rant of a woman reacting to a man’s infidelity – set to a riff inspired by Jimi Hendrix.
It was a moment of metamorphosis: the Rolling Stone party-girl had become a gravel-voiced, truth-telling sophisticate.
The album’s critical success was not matched commercially. It did well in France and Germany but reached just number 57 in the *** charts.
But it did win Faithfull a Grammy nomination in 1981, as best female rock vocal performance.
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Marianne Faithfull performing in New York in 1999
She moved to America, where Island Records put her into rehab.
Still suffering from alcohol and drug addiction, she had a string of mishaps – including breaking her jaw on the stairs. On one occasion, her heart actually stopped.
But she held it together, and released more than a dozen albums over the next three decades.
She also wrote an autobiography, Faithfull – looking back on the 1960s and 70s with a notable absence of self-pity.
Constantly worried about money, she auctioned off much of her 1960s memorabilia in 2024 – saying that she preferred gardening to looking back.
Now in her late 70s, she had inherited her mother’s ancient title and – technically a baroness – was living in Paris.
In the last decade of her life, Faithfull had to cancel concert tours after being diagnosed first with breast ******* and then hepatitis C.
She was also troubled by the complications of a broken back and hip, and thought she would never sing again after weeks in hospital with the coronavirus.
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Marianne Faithfull performs at the Bataclan concert hall in 2016
But she never quite lost the creative spark.
In recent years, she published a record that put the words of Keats and Wordsworth to music.
And Negative Capability, her 21st album, was described by the Guardian as a “masterly mediation on ageing and death”.
It was notable for They Come at Night, her furious response to the Bataclan terror in Paris.
“They come at night,” she sang, “and the world goes blind with fear. Terror in Paris, the future is here.”
It also dealt with Faithfull’s own increasing frailty and loneliness, as well as the loss of close friends, including fellow Rolling Stones muse Anita Pallenberg.
“I know I’m not young and I’m damaged,” she wrote defiantly. “But I’m still pretty kind of funny.”
Marianne Faithfull will in part be remembered for being Mick Jagger’s girlfriend and surviving the horrors of drink and drug addiction.
But her resurrection proved – if proof were needed – a rock star’s muse can become a fully fledged, respected artist in her own right.
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Ninja Gaiden II ****** review – Gamereactor
Ninja Gaiden II ****** review – Gamereactor
Even if you’ve played Ninja Gaiden II before, this is the perfect opportunity to take it for another spin. And if for some reason you’ve missed this newer generation of Ninja Gaiden altogether, Ninja Gaiden II ****** is the best place to start. Just remember that this isn’t a time to relax, but to fight while your heart rate climbs and your palms get sweaty.
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Ratepayer-backed beach bus sees strong use
Ratepayer-backed beach bus sees strong use
This year’s first foray into a local government-backed beach bus services is part of a ******* conversation about the region’s future needs, according to the program’s prime mover.
Shire of Augusta-Margaret River Cr Melissa d’Ath — also seeking election to WA’s Upper House as a Legalise Cannabis WA candidate — helped wring $20,000 in ratepayer support from the shire before Christmas to support the beach bus running to Gnarabup throughout January.
With the service coming to an end on Friday, Cr d’Ath said thorough assessment of the program would take place before determining the next steps.
Cr d’Ath said the local government had provided a welcome service for the community, and the positive feedback was “overwhelming”.
“Everywhere I go at the moment I’m getting stopped by people to talk and thank me for getting it going again,” she said.
“The numbers are increasing daily, and it’s wonderful to see the community is really getting behind it.
“Carpark congestion with boating, cafe patrons, beachgoers and vacation swimming is particularly bad this year.
“The beach bus is definitely giving locals and visitors alike an alternative to navigating the traffic and car parking.
“I can’t imagine how bad it would be without it, or I guess people would just simply not have access to our gorgeous coastline when it’s at its best.”
Green transport options were a key feature in the shire’s Climate Action Plan as well as other sustainability-minded documents, but picking up the bill for public transport ,which was a State Government responsibility, had to be considered, Cr d’Ath said.
“This is the start of a much ******* conversation that needs to be had about lack of public services and how the regions have been left behind,” she said.
“Perth’s Metronet continues to have billions of dollars pumped into it, and many country towns have no access to public transport — not to mention housing, education and healthcare.”
Shire president Julia Meldrum said the beach bus was a “fantastic initiative” to help residents access busy summer beaches.
“It supports our community, eases parking at the beach, and offers an eco-friendly alternative to driving,” Ms Meldrum said.
“Best of all, it’s free, making it a great option for everyone, especially youth, to easily get to the beach.”
Punters who used the beach bus this month told the Times they feared the service’s last-minute nature and the lack of widespread publicity meant the true appetite for such a service could go under-reported.
However, those who jumped on board during January hailed the bus as a game changer.
Regular passenger Alison Long said it was a “win-win for the whole community”.
“No need to worry about parking, which is a nightmare at the best of times, and takes the pressure off for VacSwim,” she said.
“We are able to bring all our gear, including boogie boards, and it was really cool to see some teens heading out with their fishing rods not having to rely on Mum and Dad’s taxi service.”
Rotary Margaret River funded a beach bus trial about 15 years ago that found costs were too prohibitive for it to continue.
A Shire survey for beach bus users was now open at yoursay.amrshire.wa.gov.au/beach-bus.
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Forza Horizon 5 Is The Next Xbox Game To Speed Onto PlayStation 5
Forza Horizon 5 Is The Next Xbox Game To Speed Onto PlayStation 5
After porting a few of its first-party titles to PlayStation and Switch last year, the first multiplatform move for Xbox in 2025 has been revealed. Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios have announced that Forza Horizon 5 will be racing to PlayStation this spring.
The PS5 version will be developed by Panic Button, whose previous work can be seen in games like Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Forza Horizon 4, and Apex Legends. The PS5 version will also support cross-play, so racers on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC can join up and explore the Horizon Festival together.
Forza Horizon 5
Every piece of content currently available in the Xbox and PC versions of Forza Horizon 5–which includes nearly 900 cars, 40 themed updates, and two full expansions–will be available at launch for PlayStation players. All paid expansions, like the Hot Wheels pack from 2022, will be made available in the PlayStation Store.
A new update for all platforms, Horizon Worlds, will launch alongside the PS5 version. The new content will give players “the chance to explore a curated collection of some of the community’s favorite previously released Evolving Worlds, alongside some other surprises” according to the official blog post on the Forza website.
Forza Horizon 5–the most recent Forza Horizon game, but not the most recent Forza game–becomes the latest in-house Xbox release to head to the PlayStation 5, with Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush preceding it last year. It’s one of GameSpot’s picks for the best racing games you can play right now.
The PS5 port of Forza Horizon 5 is set to launch in the spring, and players can wishlist the game on the PlayStation Store starting today.
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PC Users Will Get “Added Benefits” for Logging into PSN
PC Users Will Get “Added Benefits” for Logging into PSN
Back in May 2024, Sony suffered a massive backlash when it revealed that it was going to make PSN accounts mandatory to experience one of the best games of the year, Helldivers 2. While the requirements were dropped, all of Sony’s recent PC ports still required PSN accounts to play the game.
PSN requirements were unnecessary. (Image via Sony)
Gamers have absolutely despised this PSN requirement to play single-player games and even planned to boycott Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PC port because they expected that it wouldn’t do away with PSN. However, Sony has learned its lesson and is reversing the course with some additional benefits for players.
Sony removes PSN requirements ahead of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is finally out on PC. (Image via Sony)
Right before Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was supposed to hit the shelves for PC players, Sony made an unexpected announcement by stating that it was planning to remove the mandatory PSN requirements for some of its games, both upcoming and already available.
According to Sony, the need to have a third-party PlayStation network account will be completely removed from PC versions of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and the upcoming port of The Last of Us Part II, as well as Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War: Ragnarok.
Instead of forcing gamers to sign into a PSN account for PC ports, Sony has brought an option for them to sign in. The company is incentivizing gamers with “added benefits” such as trophies and friend management, which seems useless when on Steam. All games will offer some sort of bonus, such as cosmetic items, extra XP, and many other things to help players connect their PSN accounts.
While it’s great to see that most of Sony’s PC ports won’t require a PSN account to experience it, the company has no plans of abandoning the requirement. Game creators at all PlayStation Studios will continue to offer more benefits to gamers who sign up for PSN accounts.
The company still hasn’t removed PSN requirements from Until Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut. There’s still no information on whether or if Sony will bring an option for these titles as well.
Will Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 receive more DLCs?
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 won’t receive any DLCs. (Image via Sony)
Considering the fact that it’s been two years since the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and there’s a brand-new audience of players on PC, one might think that developer Insomniac Games is probably gearing up with tons of post-launch content. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Last year, Insomniac Games confirmed that the studio has no plans to bring additional story content for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, pretty much dashing the hopes for any kind of DLC. Gamers were disappointed and even stated that the $70 price tag didn’t bring much to the table.
Insomniac’s decision to cancel DLC plans was shocking, as leaks in December 2023 suggested that the studio was working on additional content. However, it seems like all of those plans were outdated, or the data breach might have forced the developers to change their strategy for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Now that we don’t have any DLCs, all the plot threads in the game can be explored in Spider-Man 3 or the Venom spin-off title that’s supposed to be released in 2025. However, Insomniac still hasn’t provided any updates for the Venom game, which is a cause for concern about the spin-off.
With that, do you think Sony has made the right move by dropping PSN requirements for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and all PC ports? Let us know in the comments below.
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Macklin Flynn and Heather Tennant honoured with Cowaramup Lions 2025 citizenship awards
Macklin Flynn and Heather Tennant honoured with Cowaramup Lions 2025 citizenship awards
The annual Australia Day awards co-ordinated by the Cowaramup Lions have honoured two individuals considered big contributors to the community.
Long-term Cowaramup Volunteer Bushfire Brigade stalwart Heather Tennant and rising surf prodigy Macklin Flynn were the Lions’ high achievers for 2025.
The pair received their awards during Sunday’s Australia Day breakfast with guests including WA Labor minister Jackie Jarvis in attendance.
Ms Tennant won the Col Duggan Citizen of the Year award in recognition not just for years of volunteering for the brigade, but for her wider, dedicated work in the community.
However, her skills and experience with the brigade were highly notable, with Ms Tennant one of the first firefighters to qualify for breathing apparatus and the credits needed to drive all vehicles.
Apart from her service to the brigade since 2003, Ms Tennant has also served as a committee member and co-ordinator for the Cowaramup Districts Club and the local tennis club.
She was also recognised for providing pro bono auditing services to numerous groups and community bodies in the region.
Ms Tennant said she was very excited to win the award, which her father Peter Clews secured in 2010.
“So I am very pleased to be considered in the same league as him,” she said.
“I have enjoyed my time with all the groups I have been associated with and I am glad I was able to help out.
“I would encourage everyone to volunteer in some way for the benefits that it provides.”
In taking out this year’s Kevan Gray Young Achiever award thanks to the Cowaramup Community Men’s Shed, surfer Flynn said he was grateful to the Lions for their recognition.
As well as a place on the men’s shed honour board, Mr Flynn received $500 to go towards his pursuits.
While he won obvious recognition for a raft of achievements in his burgeoning surf career, the Lions also noted the young surfer’s history of volunteering as a coach in the Margaret River Senior High School surf academy, for the Cowaramup Bay Boardriders and during the *********** National Junior Surf Titles in Wollongong last year.
Flynn is currently WA’s top-ranked male surfer in the World Surf League’s Qualifying Series which determines professional opportunities.
Lions club president Christine Heywood said the annual awards had become a key way to acknowledge long-term residents who were actively involved in all facets of community life.
“There were quite a few nominations received this year,” Ms Heywood said.
“There are many unsung heroes in our community, all of whom are worthy of this award and who tirelessly work behind the scenes to make Cowaramup a great place to reside.
“Sincere thanks go to the people who nominated our field of candidates.”
The award also fell this year on the 40th anniversary of Duggan and fellow founders establishing the Cowaramup Lions Club.
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PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4 Themes on PS5 Will Leave Tomorrow, But Sony Is Working to Bring Them Back
PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4 Themes on PS5 Will Leave Tomorrow, But Sony Is Working to Bring Them Back
Sony has announced that the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PS4 themes it created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of PlayStation will no longer be available on PS5 from tomorrow. However, they’re not going away permanently. The firm has stated it’s working behind the scenes to bring them back “in the months ahead”.
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French privacy watchdog to quiz DeepSeek on AI, data protection
French privacy watchdog to quiz DeepSeek on AI, data protection
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – France’s privacy watchdog said on Thursday it will question DeepSeek to gain a better idea of how the ******** startup’s AI system works and any possible privacy risks for users.
DeepSeek attracted global attention after writing in a paper last month that the training of DeepSeek-V3 required less than $6 million worth of computing power from Nvidia H800 chips.
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“The CNIL’s AI department is currently analysing this tool,” a spokesperson for the French watchdog said.
“In order to better understand how this AI system works and the risks in terms of data protection, the CNIL will question the company that offers the DeepSeek chatbot,” they added.
The French watchdog is one of the most active in Europe and has fined Google and Meta Platforms, among others.
Italy’s data protection authority said earlier this week it was seeking answers from DeepSeek on its use of personal data, while Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it has requested information from the ******** company about data processing conducted in relation to Irish users.
Europe has been particularly protective of privacy rights and its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive and stringent data privacy laws in the world.
GDPR breaches can lead to fines up to 4% of a company’s total global turnover.
The 27-country European Union last year agreed to landmark rules which impose strict transparency obligations on high-risk AI systems and lighter ones for general-purpose AI models.
Fines for violations range from 7.5 million euros, or 1.5% of turnover, to 35 million euros or 7% of global turnover depending on the type of violations.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Goodman and Alexander Smith)
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Ubisoft’s Doomed Splinter Cell Movie That Had Tom Hardy as Sam Fisher Was a ******* Fumble Than Assassin’s Creed 2016
Ubisoft’s Doomed Splinter Cell Movie That Had Tom Hardy as Sam Fisher Was a ******* Fumble Than Assassin’s Creed 2016
For years, fans of the beloved Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell video game franchise have clamored for a live-action adaptation that would bring the iconic stealth operative, Sam Fisher, to life.
Back in 2005 when Ubisoft started considering the movie fans got hyped. The real excitement came when they announced plans for the Splinter Cell movie with Tom Hardy cast as the lead.
Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell | Credits: Ubisoft
Hardy, known for his intense performances in films like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, and Venom seemed like the perfect choice to embody Fisher’s shadowy style. After high hopes and years of development, the producer Basil Iwanyk gave us a major update. Let’s dive into the update.
What happened to the Splinter Cell movie?
Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell | Credits: Ubisoft
The Splinter Cell movie was officially announced in 2011 along with Ghost Recon and Assassin’s Creed. During an interview with Variety, Ubisoft Motion Pictures’ studio head Jean-Julien Baronnet said,
We want to keep ownership, retain control over the film content, and we’re open to work with studios on the development of our projects, and eventually collaborate on the pre-casting, pre-budget and script.
It initially sparked excitement, but the challenges began piling up almost immediately. The production encountered multiple issues, including frequent script rewrites, creative disagreements, and difficulties aligning the budget with the filmmakers’ ambitions.
Over the years, several directors were attached to the project, including Doug Liman who is known for action movies like The Bourne Identity and The Edge of Tomorrow. Later more directors with less experience in action-heavy films were brought on. Each change brought its own complications, delaying the project further.
One of the most significant hurdles was Ubisoft’s insistence on retaining creative control. The company wanted to protect the integrity of the Splinter Cell brand, which often clashed with Hollywood’s approach to storytelling.
According to producer Basil Iwanyk, the production team struggled to create a script that balanced Ubisoft’s vision with the demands of a blockbuster film. Iwanyk shared with The Direct,
That movie would have been awesome… Just couldn’t get it right, script-wise, budget-wise. But it was going to be great. We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome. That’s one of the ones that got away, which is really sad.
The failure of 2016’s Assassin’s Creed movie, also cast a long shadow over the Splinter Cell project. The underwhelming box office performance made studios wary of investing in another video game adaptation from Ubisoft. As enthusiasm dwindled and costs escalated, the Splinter Cell movie was finally canceled in November 2024.
Why Tom Hardy is the perfect fit for Sam Fisher
Tom Hardy in a still from Venom: The Last Dance | Credits: Sony Pictures Releasing
Casting Tom Hardy as Sam Fisher was one of the most exciting aspects of the Splinter Cell movie. Hardy’s track record of playing intense, physically demanding roles made him a natural choice for the stealth operative.
Hardy’s performances in action-packed films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Inception showcased his ability to handle complex action sequences with ease. Hardy’s dedication would have been a perfect match for the physical and mental demands of portraying Sam Fisher.
In the Splinter Cell games, Fisher is a master of stealth, espionage, and close-quarters combat, skills that require not only physical prowess but also a commanding presence. Hardy’s ability to convey intensity through subtle expressions and body language as seen in Venom, would have captured the essence of Fisher’s character.
Beyond his acting ability, Hardy’s star power would have drawn attention to the Splinter Cell movie, elevating it beyond the realm of a typical video game adaptation.
His involvement indicated that Ubisoft aimed to create a high-quality film that stayed true to the source material. Unfortunately, despite Hardy’s ideal casting, the project’s logistical and creative challenges ultimately prevented fans from witnessing him play such an iconic character.
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Married Russian Figure-Skating Stars Are Among Victims of Plane ****** Near Washington, D.C.
Married Russian Figure-Skating Stars Are Among Victims of Plane ****** Near Washington, D.C.
Two passengers on the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday night were world-class ice skaters who worked as coaches in the United States. The skaters, two champions from Russia, shared a partnership both on the ice and in marriage.
The Skating Club of Boston confirmed in a social media post on Thursday that Yevgeniya Shishkova, 52, and Vadim Naumov, 55, were on the plane that collided with a military helicopter as it approached Ronald Reagan National Airport, leading to the ****** that killed everyone on board. Many passengers were athletes and coaches leaving the U.S. Figure Skating national championships in Wichita. Kan.
Ms. Shishkova, also known as Evgenia Shishkova, and Mr. Naumov competed for Russia in pair figure skating before moving to the United States in 1998. They were married in their native St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1995.
In the 1990s, Mr. Naumov and Ms. Shishkova reached the top of their careers. They won gold in pair skating at the World Skating Championship in Japan in 1994, and participated in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. Overall, they skated in six World Championships, winning a collection of gold, silver and bronze medals.
They did not qualify for the 1998 Olympics and ended their skating careers to become coaches. Like many professional Russian skaters, they moved to America while Russia experienced a sharp economic downturn after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
They settled in Simsbury, Conn., where they joined the International Skating Center of Connecticut. Apart from coaching, they took part in professional tournaments.
The coaching was not always easy. Speaking with the Yankee Magazine of New England in 2007, Mr. Naumov said that in the United States, children “are overexposed to competition.”
“Parents want to see results for what they’re paying for, and coaches want to show those results,” he said. “In Russia the government paid for our training. I practiced with a group, and I didn’t start to really compete until I was 15.”
On his profile page for The Skating Club of Boston, Mr. Naumov said that he loved “to create an environment where students have fun while working hard.”
Juliet Macur contributed reporting.
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Forza Horizon 5 Comes to PlayStation 5 in Spring 2025.
Forza Horizon 5 Comes to PlayStation 5 in Spring 2025.
New drivers will soon arrive at the Horizon Festival from PlayStation 5.
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Terry Rozier under federal investigation in connection to ******** betting scheme – New York Post
Terry Rozier under federal investigation in connection to ******** betting scheme – New York Post
Terry Rozier under federal investigation in connection to ******** betting scheme New York Post Terry Rozier under federal investigation over suspicious gambling activity SB NationTerry Rozier’s play in March 2023 game with Charlotte being probed by federal investigators The Seattle TimesEx-Celtics Fan Favorite Under Investigation For ******** Betting Probe NESN
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*********** nurses honoured in annual Augusta commemoration next weekend
*********** nurses honoured in annual Augusta commemoration next weekend
The annual commemoration of Australia’s wartime nurses will be held in Augusta next weekend.
The Augusta Nurses Memorial Service starts at 10am on Saturday, February 8 to commemorate the *********** Army nursing sisters who died as a result of enemy action in World War II.
As well as a formal service, there will be a morning tea at the Anglican Church on Allnut Terrace, with all welcome.
Service co-ordinator Jill Perkins said the memorial was initially established to honour women from the region who died in conflicts, with late Karridale resident Pauline Wilson involved in their training.
Ms Wilson designed the memorial with the help of the Karridale-Augusta RSL.
More than 300 people attended the first service on April 21, 1978, and Vivian Statham, the sole survivor of the Banka Island Massacre unveiled the granite plinth.
At the time, the Augusta memorial was WA’s only recognition of army nurses who died as a direct result of conflict during the war.
Ms Perkins said at 82, a new generation of Augusta residents willing to take on memorial duties was needed.
Residents willing to contribute to ongoing projects were asked to attend the memorial on February 8.
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Full PC Specs Revealed
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Full PC Specs Revealed
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January 30, 2025
The full PC specifications for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are now available. The stylized turn-based RPG from the small developer Sandfall Interactive is one of the highlights of Microsoft’s Game Pass titles slated to come out in the first half of 2025.
The release date for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was revealed at Xbox’s Developer Direct event earlier this month, and now PC players can see what they’ll need to run the game on their system. Here’s the full breakdown of requirements you’ll need before your expedition heads out.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Full PC Specs
The game requires 55 GB of storage and DirectX Version 12.
Minimum Specs
Graphics Preset: Low
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit or higher
Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7-8700K or better | AMD Ryzen 5 1600X or better
Graphics Card (GPU): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (8 GB) or better | AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (8 GB) or better | Intel Arc A580 (8GB) or better
Memory (RAM): 8 GB
Average Performance: 1080p, 30 FPS
Recommended Specs
Graphics Preset: High
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit or higher
Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7-11700K or better | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or better
Graphics Card (GPU): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 3070 (16 GB) or better | AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16 GB) or better
Memory (RAM): 16 GB
Average Performance: 1080p, 60 FPS
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC on April 24, 2025. PC players can purchase and play the game on Steam, the Epic Games Store, or the Xbox app. The game will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.
Is your PC equipped to handle Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on high graphics? Let us know down below, and join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming forums.
For more from Insider Gaming, read about Forza Horizon 5 coming to PS5 this spring, and don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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Kash Patel Has Made Money off His Ties to Trump
Kash Patel Has Made Money off His Ties to Trump
He calls himself K$H.
That is the brand name Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to run the F.B.I., has used to hawk T-shirts, hats, flags and pricey potables ($344.99 will buy a cabernet with Mr. Trump’s glowering mug shot on the label).
Mr. Patel has not only cast his political lot with Mr. Trump, he has also used the connection to Mr. Trump, the Trump brand, Truth Social and other Trump-linked entities as a significant source of income over the past several years.
After Mr. Trump left the White House, Mr. Patel began working for him as a paid adviser on national security issues, and subsequently joined the board of Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group — where he was paid about $130,000 to investigate two of the company’s founders.
In all, the consulting company he founded has collected about $465,000 from Mr. Trump’s social media company and political action committee, according to records.
It is not known how much money Mr. Patel made from his polemical memoir, “Government Gangsters” (which includes his 60-person enemies list and threat to depopulate F.B.I. headquarters and turn it into a museum), or what he earned when it was turned into a documentary, according to his answers to a questionnaire he submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
His Trump-adjacent business ventures, which are intertwined with his charitable efforts, appear to be a major source of income for a career public-sector employee who now finds himself with enough income to afford a membership to the invitation-only Poodle Room in Las Vegas, which carries an estimated $20,000 membership fee.
Mr. Patel is also a founder of Based Apparel, a company that advertises on Truth Social and markets the branded K$H ephemera and books.
He has also promoted wooden plaques, “Warrior Essentials” and anti-vaccine diet supplements.
Mr. Patel operates the Kash Foundation, a nonprofit that he has said offers financial help to a range of recipients, including the families of people charged for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Some of the proceeds of his wine and clothing sales go to his foundation. (All of “net profits” from the $25 “Fight with K$H PUNISHER Socks” go to the charity, according to his website.)
The ultimate merger of his political, literary and commercial interests is a line of illustrated children’s books, in which he portrays himself as a wizard of the Gandalf type, wearing a midnight blue robe covered with glittering stars and half moons.
Mr. Trump, broad-shouldered and crowned, is known as “the King.”
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Detroit rapper accuses Lyft driver of weight discrimination
Detroit rapper accuses Lyft driver of weight discrimination
(CBS DETROIT) — A Detroit rapper is suing rideshare company Lyft after a driver allegedly refused to give her a ride because of her weight.
Dajua Blanding, who goes by the stage name Dank DeMoss, says she was humiliated by her encounter. Her attorneys say the driver violated Michigan’s anti-discrimination laws, which include weight as a protected characteristic.
“I was like, is this really happening?” Blanding told CBS News Detroit. “I was hurt and embarrassed.”
Blanding, a self-described advocate for plus-size people, filmed the entire incident on her cellphone and posted it to social media. That post has now gone viral, reaching thousands of people.
Blanding said she posted it to raise awareness for an issue that she believes is not discussed enough.
“I’ve been in that same type of car many times and never had an issue,” said Blanding. “This was someone who was discriminating against me just because of my weight.”
A spokesperson for Lyft told CBS News Detroit that they can’t comment on pending litigations, but did give a written statement:
“Lyft unequivocally condemns all forms of discrimination—we believe in a community where everyone is treated with equal respect and mutual kindness. Our community guidelines and terms of service explicitly prohibit harassment or discrimination.”
Blanding said she didn’t feel respect or kindness from the driver, but she’s glad her video resonates with other people who look like her.
“If I hadn’t stood up, who would?” Blanding said. “My hope is that all 50 states would add weight as a protection for people.”
Trump’s statement on New Jersey drones issued at White House press briefing
Commercial plane crashes midair with military helicopter near Reagan National Airport
Trump offering “deferred resignation” to government workers unwilling to return to office
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PlayStation’s 30th anniversary PS5 themes are leaving, but Sony says they’ll be back
PlayStation’s 30th anniversary PS5 themes are leaving, but Sony says they’ll be back
Sony says the limited-time PlayStation 30th Anniversary themes on PS5 are being removed tomorrow, but promises players they’ll return.
Last month Sony released a PS5 update which let players customise aspects of the console’s operating system, based on different console generations.
This included the PS1 boot-up animation as a new start-up sequence, and a variety of themes based on PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4 or the 30th Anniversary, which could be applied to the home screen and other areas.
Sony informed players at the time that these themes would only be temporary, and it’s now confirmed that they’ll be leaving on Friday (January 31).
However, it now says it plans to bring them back thanks to positive user feedback.
Thank you for the fantastic response to the classic PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PS4 limited-time console themes, which will be leaving tomorrow.
Due to the positive response on these 4 themes, we’re doing some work behind the scenes to bring these special designs back in the… pic.twitter.com/KYk5DHQ3wO
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) January 30, 2025
“Thank you for the fantastic response to the classic PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PS4 limited-time console themes, which will be leaving tomorrow,” a statement on the official PlayStation account reads on X.
“Due to the positive response on these four themes, we’re doing some work behind the scenes to bring these special designs back in the months ahead.”
Sony recently updated PlayStation’s website with a timeline chronicling 30 years of the iconic gaming brand.
Last year it also launched PlayStation’s 30th Anniversary Collection, which includes grey PS5 Digital and PS5 Pro consoles.
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Kash Patel’s Enemies List Is Expected to Be a Flashpoint
Kash Patel’s Enemies List Is Expected to Be a Flashpoint
In his book “Government Gansters,” Mr. Patel made clear his hostility toward the so-called deep state, publishing a list of 60 names in an appendix.
It has been widely interpreted as an enemies list and singles out former executive branch officials but is by no means “comprehensive,” according to Mr. Patel.
At his confirmation hearing to be F.B.I. director on Thursday, Mr. Patel forcefully rejected the idea that the group of names was an enemies list.
“It’s not an enemies list,” Mr. Patel told the senators. “It’s a total mischaracterization.”He later added that the F.B.I. “will not go backwards. There will be no politicization at the F.B.I. There will be no retributive actions taken by any F.B.I. should I be confirmed as F.B.I. director.”
Many of the names are familiar. They stand out because of their roles in investigations that ensnared President Trump or because they bucked the president’s authority. Some are obscure but well-known to those who closely followed the various controversies that engulfed the first Trump administration.
Former F.B.I. officials are included, including James B. Comey, whom Mr. Trump fired as the bureau’s director, and his successor, Christopher A. Wray, who resigned this month before the president could oust him, too. There are two current F.B.I. employees on the list.
One is an agent who was involved in an inquiry examining a possible secret communications channel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, a Russian financial firm with ties to the Kremlin. The other is a veteran analyst involved in the F.B.I.’s investigation, known as “Crossfire Hurricane,” into Russian meddling during the 2016 president election.
The list has generated unease inside the bureau — not just for those on it but even those who are not singled out by name — given the mass firings at the Justice Department in recent days. The dismissals extended to about a dozen federal prosecutors who worked on the criminal prosecutions of Mr. Trump, with the acting attorney general citing a lack of trust.
“Given your significant role in prosecuting the president, I do not believe that the leadership of the department can trust you to assist in implementing the president’s agenda faithfully,” read the memo by the acting attorney general, James McHenry.
Whether that retribution spills over to the bureau is unclear. Mr. Patel has insisted that the list is not a road map.
“My version of accountability is a little different than maybe what most people would think,” Mr. Patel said on the podcast “The Shawn Ryan Show.” He added: “I don’t have a hit list. I don’t have a revenge march I’m on.”
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Israeli Hostages Released in a Chaotic Handover in Southern Gaza
Israeli Hostages Released in a Chaotic Handover in Southern Gaza
************ militants released a total of eight Israeli and Thai hostages, and Israel released 110 ************ prisoners, in a chaotic third round of exchanges between the two sides as per the cease-fire agreement.
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Pelican News
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Security at ISIS Camps in Syria Threatened by U.S. Funding Freeze
Security at ISIS Camps in Syria Threatened by U.S. Funding Freeze
President Trump’s sweeping executive order to halt foreign aid threatens to freeze a U.S. program supporting security forces inside a notorious camp in the Syrian desert that holds tens of thousands of Islamic State members and their families, Syrian and U.S. officials said.
The order has also wreaked havoc on another U.S. organization in Syria that was forced to briefly stop operations inside the camp, known as Al Hol, where the large concentration of ISIS members is seen as a security threat.
Concerns over an ISIS comeback have been rising, with Syria in a state of flux as its new leaders try to solidify control over a nation still fragmented after rebels ousted its authoritarian leader, Bashar al-Assad.
The Trump administration has argued that the funding freeze, set to last for 90 days, was needed to ensure U.S. funds were not being wasted. But its impact highlights the risk posed to operations seen as critical to preventing a resurgence of ISIS, a jihadist group that once controlled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq and launched deadly attacks in Europe and the United States before it was decimated by an American-led international coalition.
American troops still maintain a presence in northeastern Syria, supporting a local U.S. ally, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, in the coalition’s fight against ISIS. The S.D.F. not only controls northeastern Syria, but also a constellation of prisons and refugee camps in the territory holding ISIS fighters and their families, who are mostly from Syria and Iraq but also dozens of other countries.
“The Al Hol camp is full of ISIS remnants,” Jihan Hanan, the camp director and an official in the regional government, said in an interview. “Our prisons are full of ISIS fighters. They pose a huge threat to the people of this region. We were the ones who fought on the front lines against ISIS. We were America’s partners. They should continue with us to the end — or at least until we can ensure peace and security for this region.”
Western security officials have also expressed concerns that any deterioration of control over the camps and prisons could fuel an ISIS revival in the region and beyond.
After Mr. Trump’s directive last Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop-work order for all foreign aid. That order has halted operations by the U.S. contractor, Proximity International, which manages a program to train and equip thousands of Syrians to act as a police force, and provide them with vehicles and equipment.
One of the company’s most critical roles is providing security inside Al Hol camp, which houses some 39,000 ISIS members, their families and refugees, Ms. Hanan said. Occupied mostly by Iraqis and Syrians, the camp also contains foreigners of 42 other nationalities.
“It’s got a huge effect on us,” Ms. Hanan said of the halt to Proximity operations. “They supported internal security. They supplied what was needed for the camp gates — the technical equipment they needed, security cameras — all that kind of work, they supported that.”
Maintaining security at Al Hol, as well as a smaller camp, Al Roj, is viewed as a critical part of keeping an ISIS resurgence at bay. The camps are seen as a key target for ISIS recruitment and operations.
Proximity International’s contract to support the security forces ends on Friday, according to Ms. Hanan and two of the program’s employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity. And because it has been ordered to stop work, it cannot sign a new contract with the forces. The company has filed for an exemption, the employees said, but had yet to receive a response as of Thursday.
Proximity International did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Local officials warned that not only were such freezes a security risk, they could also undermine Washington’s relationship with its local Kurdish allies before the Trump administration has determined its strategies toward Syria and ISIS.
Adding to the disarray for the sensitive programs is the Trump administration’s apparent reversal of the directive ordering halts to federal funding. The two U.S. contractors affected at Al Hol said the move did not appear to reverse their freeze but that it had added yet another layer of confusion to an already uncertain situation.
The U.S. State Department defended the foreign aid freeze this week, arguing that it would incentivize organizations to offer a thorough accounting and justification of American financing of foreign projects.
The stop-work order also briefly halted a Virginia-based nonprofit organization’s work last Saturday in the two camps, laying bare the potential for chaos.
The nonprofit, Blumont, handles aid distribution, electricity and latrines at the camps, and employs security guards for the camps’ warehouses and supply centers. It also helps manage repatriation operations: Reducing the number of inhabitants at the camps is seen as critical to diminishing the potential for exploitation by ISIS.
Ms. Hanan said when Blumont was ordered at 1 a.m. local time Saturday to stop operations — hours before she and the organization were set to help repatriate dozens of families to Iraq — the aid group immediately withdrew its security guards and halted distribution of bread and fuel.
S.D.F. forces rushed in to fill the security gap, she said, while Blumont workers scrambled to stretch their resources to cover residents’ needs.
It was not until the beginning of this week that the company received a two-week waiver to continue security and humanitarian aid at the camps while U.S. administration officials reviewed the assistance, according to a Blumont employee and a senior U.S. military official, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
But the weekend delay in bread distribution had so angered camp inhabitants, Ms. Hanan said, that she had feared it would spark violence.
“People started demanding we open the gates and let them go,” she said. “We could handle a day or two, but after that? We just can’t. What would happen in the camp; what kind of explosion could this cause among its inhabitants? Could they attack us? Force their way out of the camp? Attempted escapes? All of that could happen.”
It is unclear what will happen when the waiver expires. A Blumont representative said the humanitarian group would continue to deliver aid and provide critical services in the camps until told otherwise, and “we’ll follow additional guidance as we receive it.”
In a statement on Wednesday, the State Department said, “A temporary pause, with common-sense waivers for truly life-threatening situations, is the only way to scrutinize and prevent waste.”
U.S. financial assistance overseas generally supports humanitarian, development and security programs, and it makes up less than 1 percent of the government budget.
Ms. Hanan warned that the aid at the camps was critical for the region. “ISIS is still here,” she said. “This isn’t over.”
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
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Nashville's WNBA bid names team after Summitt – ESPN
Nashville's WNBA bid names team after Summitt – ESPN
Nashville’s WNBA bid names team after Summitt ESPNWhy Bill and Crissy Haslam, Candace Parker and others put in WNBA bid for Nashville team TennesseanHaslams push for WNBA franchise in Nashville AxiosTennessee Summitt WNBA: How Candace Parker, Peyton Manning factor into expansion team bid Knoxville News SentinelHaslam family launches bid for WNBA expansion team in Nashville The Business Journals
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